About Compassion International Rwanda

Compassion means “to suffer with” and is an emotional response of sympathy. But it’s not just a feeling. The feeling is combined with a desire to help. Because we have compassion, we want to take action and help the person who is suffering.

Notice the last word of the definition above — “with.” We are called to suffer from someone, to suffer together. This is what differentiates compassion from empathy.